In the embedded video, Ken MacBeth, whom I could listen to all day long, explains that there is basically one OEM keyboard supplier: Fatar. He has taken the Fatar mechanism, a diode matrix, and used the Oberheim TVS-1 circuit to create his true-CV keyboard controller.
This is a noble ambition. The world needs a new CV keyboard controller. Analogue Systems makes a few, and, if I'm not mistaken, they are basically MIDI controllers that are converted back into voltages.
None of these CV controllers provide even initial velocity. Bob Moog had supplied Wendy Carlos a velocity and depth-sensitive CV keyboard 40 years ago. So, what is the issue here? CV velocity is super expressive.
Back when controllers like the Roland A-50 MIDI controller were new, my primary complaint was it needed more assignable knobs and buttons. Today, it seems the industry got the message. Every controller made is judged by how many knobs it is festooned with. However, no one makes a 76-key synth-action controller. Nobody makes anything with polyphonic aftertouch. Very few implement release velocity.
Now, I realize that Fatar doesn't make polyphonic aftertouch mechanisms, and, since they are the primary supplier of keyboards to the industry, there isn't any other option. However, release velocity is possible, if it is popping up on things like the Novation Remote 61.
76-note controllers are like the middle child no one loves. 61-key controllers are standard for synth players, and 88-key piano action controllers are common for those looking for that kind of feel. I'm certainly in the minority when it comes to this preference. I find the 61-key range too limiting, and I only like a piano action when I'm playing a piano.
I have too many keyboards as it is, and I don't have a lot of space. I don't want a controller just for CV and a MIDI controller for everything else. Why can't I have one controller with dual paths? With CV velocity. Both initial and release. And a 76-key version.
